In this contract ratification process, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers makes several steps towards allowing a more democratic and transparent system for the rank and file to review and understand the terms of the offer. Improvements to this process included:

Providing a two-day reading period for the contract terms

Running a webinar to review select points and answer questions about those points

Posting both a summary and complete terms of the change online so they could be accessed by all members

Making the procedure for the vote clear, and specifically clarifying that the vote was via paper ballot, not the symbolic voice vote.

The Caucus of Working Educators is pleased with this shift towards giving members a chance to review the offer. We assembled a “contract crunch team” to comb through the terms and make sure that any confusion could be explored and addressed and sent our questions to Jerry Jordan hoping for a response. We built a spreadsheet to help employees at all step levels calculate exactly what their future salaries would be under the new offer. We organized contract reading parties around the city on Sunday to help people make sense of the offer together, and supported members around the city in facilitating discussion in their own buildings the day of the vote.

All of these shifts made us hopeful that our vote at the Liacouras Center would have given us a chance to ask questions for clarity and have an honest discussion about terms that we did not yet understand.

Unfortunately, the meeting consisted of a video, a Power Point presentation, and a move to call for a vote while dozens of members were still waiting to speak, with no opportunity to ask questions or gain the clarity we were hoping for.

When the call to close discussion was made, many members objected – and also questioned why others would seek to shut things down when they had the option to cast their ballot and leave the meeting at any time.

This shutting down of discussion and discourse threatens to repeat our path in 2010. At the last contract vote, when we had mere hours to review the terms, many members were confused about a clause on “Renaissance Schools” – a provision that was also approved without discussion, and resulted in dozens of schools being handed over to charter operators.

Shutting down discussion served no benefit to those who supported the move, and only alienated those who wanted clarity about the contract that defines our lives for the next three years.

To be clear: we are pleased with the result of the vote, in which nearly half of PFT’s membership voted – in contrast to 2010, where only 16% of members cast ballots. In our own internal poll, a majority of Caucus members also approved the contract offer, and we were excited to lend our support at the meeting while still seeking the clarity we needed to move forward in our work and our lives.

Every PFT member deserves a union that considers open debate and discussion a sign of strength, not weakness. WE believe that democracy makes our union stronger and will continue the push for discussion and transparency, into the next contract negotiation and beyond.

We’ve got until Monday at 4PM. How can you make sense of the PFT contract offer?Here’s how to prepare for the vote, in five easy steps:

1. Watch the presentation from Saturday’s PFT Webinar and read the changes to the PFT contract. Log on to the ‘members only’ section of the PFT website to access the information at PFT.org. Read the latest from the Inquirer, Newsworks and the Notebook.

3. Organize a Contract Reading Party at your school on Monday. Making sure every PFT member has the time and space to read the proposal and make an informed decision is crucial. Have a breakfast meeting before school. Meet up at lunch to talk. Or plan to get to the Liacouras Center as early as 4pm on Monday, stake out a spot for your school and meet there. Use the following resources to help guide your discussion:

Bring a school sign or banner to the ratification vote so your staff can easily find each other and sit together.

Make sure you have each other’s cell phone numbers programmed into your phones before the meeting so you can find each other and communicate during the meeting.

Bring your postcard: Every PFT member should have received a red and white postcard in the mail, which is your ticket into the contract ratification vote. If you did not receive it, bring a photo ID and your most recent pay stub to the meeting -- and call the PFT office immediately at 215-587-6738.

5. Vote using the paper ballot. As mentioned above, the voice vote is merely symbolic. It’s the paper vote that counts. REMEMBER TO COMPLETE YOUR PAPER BALLOT AND CAST YOUR VOTE BY PUTTING IT DIRECTLY INTO THE BALLOT BOX BEFORE LEAVING. You can vote as soon as the doors open at 4pm. Do not hand your ballot to anyone. Be sure your vote gets counted. Put it into the box yourself.

We all know what the contract terms look like for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, but how about in other cities. The Caucus has gathered information from contracts in peer unions around the country: Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles. The full contract for each city profiled is linked below. No two situations are identical, but taking a look around can help us better understand what is possible and how the PFT compares. (Click here to download a copy.)

Our union may soon vote on an all-important collective bargaining agreement. Use this guide to bring together colleagues at your school or home to determine if this contract deserves your vote. Democracy makes our union strong!

Why?

Discussion around contract voting is a normal right of a democratic union

Members deserve an opportunity to understand the contract terms so they can discuss it with their families in advance of the vote

Colleagues deserve an opportunity to discuss the impact this contract will have on their schools

How?

Gather everything to clearly read, discuss, and understand any proposal:

Copies of the current contract and changes

Sign-in sheets, whiteboards or flip charts, Post-its, etc.

Basic Agenda

Opening, introductions, ground rules

Why are we here?

What are our top priorities for a contract? What are our dealbreakers?

Click here to download a PDF of this guide to use at your "Contract Reading Party."

This week, PFT Members learned that there is a possibility that our union and the District will reach a tentative contract agreement soon- which Philly’s educators, students, and families have all been waiting for!

Here is some essential information to think about and check in with your colleagues about, to make sure every PFT member has the opportunity to get informed, be there, and participate in this important union event:

What is a contract ratification vote? When bargaining for a contract, unions come to a tentative agreement with their employer and then bring that agreement to the union membership for a contract ratification vote. Union members generally have a period of time to look over the changes ahead of time, then vote via mail or in person on whether these changes are sufficient to approve the new contract.

What will the vote look like for PFT Members? All members of our 11,000-person union will be invited to a Special Membership Meeting at the Liacouras Center to hear about the contract, any proposed changes, and then vote yes or no to approve. This vote always occurs via private ballot, which will be counted by an outside agency the American Arbitration Association (AAA). There may be a symbolic voice vote, but the contract is not ratified until every member present at the meeting has their vote counted by the AAA. PFT Members are welcome to stay and watch the vote count.

Will we have time to read the proposal in advance? The PFT has not committed to a set contract reading period, but the union has promised that members will have time to hear about the new contract and ask questions before the ratification meeting.

What can we do now to get ready?

1. Contract Vote Postcard: Every member of the PFT should have received a red and white postcard in the mail this week. This will be your ticket into a potential contract ratification vote. If you did not receive one, call the PFT office to verify your address at 215-587-6738.

2. Members-Only Section: The PFT has also created a new Members-Only section on the website, so that when information about the tentative contract becomes available all members can read as much information as possible. Make sure your login works by following the directions to sign in at this site (if you have issues signing in, you should have received an email from Jerry Jordan with a form to get it fixed).

3. A Meeting May Come Up Quickly: Be aware that the call for a contract ratification meeting may come up quickly in the next few days (or weeks), and it’s important that every PFT member has the opportunity to be there and participate! Start thinking now about details such as last-minute childcare, and a travel plan for you and your staff to get the Liacouras center after school. Here is the parking guide for the Liacouras Center, and you can easily take the SEPTA Broad Street Line to Cecil B Moore station.

4. Schedule a “Contract Reading Party” on Tuesday June 13: When a tentative contract is available, we want every member to have the opportunity to read, discuss, and think about their needs and the needs of our union sisters and brothers. Right now, based on information available, it is possible that there will be a vote as soon as next Wednesday June 14.

Ask any Philadelphia politician or School District administrator what they think about teachers, and they are likely to shower us with praise and compliments. We are the backbone of this city, and should be honored and supported in everything that we do to serve our students.

Except when that means getting political.

This past spring, Caucus of Working Educators member and Central High School History Teacher George Bezanis spearheaded two efforts to raise awareness of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ ongoing contract battle: a highway billboard and an aerial banner.

At the beginning of May, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics responded to these actions by informing him that he was potentially in violation of city lobbying rules and could be charged up to $2,000 for the alleged infraction.

The day after our petition went public, The PFT made a post on their Facebook page with a partial explanation as to what kind of access members would have to a new contract offer.

We appreciate this response, especially the explanation about the voting process. However, we still ask for an actual reading period for our contract. Being able to ask questions and get an explanation is not enough, especially without any guaranteed time frame for this process. This describes what our last contract vote was like in 2009, which left many members feeling frustrated and misinformed.

The Caucus of Working Educators enthusiastically supports the PFT leadership in their ongoing contract negotiations, and are very much looking forward to a resolution to what has been a long and bitter struggle. To those ends, we want a contract ratification process that allows the general membership to feel confident in their vote.

This is not an abstract concern -- last year, the administrators in CASA pushed back against their own union leadership when the negotiating team presented a contract offer with limited information and a speedy schedule for a vote. The members voted "no" in part because they felt needlessly pressured by the CASA leadership to make a quick decision.

Rushing this process risks its success. To those ends, we have requested that the PFT leadership make a public commitment to a minimum one-week reading period as soon as possible.

Did you know that, when a union brings a contract offer to its membership, it's quite common to have a reading period before a vote?

Unions around the country give their members days or even weeks to review the contract before being asked to respond to the offer. This includes teachers unions -- the Chicago Teachers Union typically gives its members three days, and the United Federation of Teachers in New York City has given its members up to a month during previous offers!

If you are a teacher in Philadelphia, this might be news to you, because the last time we had a chance to vote on a contract in 2009, members only had a few hours to review an abbreviated version of the contract the same day as the vote. Most members didn't even know that the voice vote held on the floor (of the Liacouras Center at Temple University) was merely symbolic and that the official paper ballot vote happened afterward. This process was speedy even compared to earlier PFT contract offers, where teachers were given a number of days to review print copies of the contract before gathering for a vote.

The Caucus of Working Educators enthusiastically supports the PFT leadership in their ongoing contract negotiations, and are very much looking forward to a resolution to what has been a long and bitter struggle. To those ends, we want a contract ratification process that allows the general membership to feel confident in their vote.

This is not an abstract concern -- last year, the administrators in CASA pushed back against their own union leadership when the negotiating team presented a contract offer with limited information and a speedy schedule for a vote. The members voted "no" in part because they felt needlessly pressured by the CASA leadership to make a quick decision.

Rushing this process risks its success. To those ends, we have requested that the PFT leadership make a public commitment to a minimum one-week reading period by this Thursday, May 18th. The request was signed by educators from dozens of schools around the district and delivered to Jerry Jordan at the executive board meeting on May 11th.

Let's empower the rank and file to bring this long contract battle to a successful conclusion!

Philly educators took to the streets on May Day to take a stand against austerity budgeting, racist attacks, deportations, wage theft, rampant gentrification, cutbacks on public services such as fair housing and education and, of course, the lack of a PFT contract. Our fight for a fair contract is a fight for the future of every single Philadelphia child and for the future of public education in Philadelphia.

Solidarity: Our Collective Work Parents, community members and allies understand this larger fight. POWER, Parents United for Public Education, Juntos, New Sanctuary Movement, Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, Black Lives Matter Philadelphia, Philadelphia Black History Collaborative, Asian Americans United, Vietlead, Teacher Action Group, Youth United for Change, Philadelphia Student Union, 215 Pepople’s Alliance, Reclaim Philadelphia, Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, Neighborhood Networks, Americans for Democratic Action and the Fight for 15 are just a few of the nearly 500 individuals, organizations and institutions that stood with us on May Day and called for education justice in this city. The hundreds of educators from over 25 schools who flooded the streets on May Day understand this larger fight as well -- along with the thousands of additional educators who supported the action from the classroom.

Our Union, Our City and the Future

The “May Day of Advocacy for Philly Schools” gave us a glimpse into the true power we have as rank-and-file members of our union and of our community and parent organizations. Once we tap into that potential, we will redefine both the culture of our union and the political landscape of this city. Imagine a PFT in which every single member is an active participant -- a changemaker. Imagine a Philadelphia in which we all come together -- unions, community organizations, immigrant rights groups, racial justice organizations, youth groups, parents, allies and advocates -- to take back our city from the corporate elite and public officials who are destroying our public institutions and weakening our democracy.

What’s next?

May Day showed us that we have the capacity to transform our union and our city. We can make that vision a reality by building relationships with each other, taking collective action, and showing up for our students, our profession, and our future.

Help build the movement:

Become a member of the Caucus of Working Educators. Click here to join.

Come to the next Monthly Organizing Meeting on Tuesday, May 9, 4:30-6:30 at Kensington CAPA (1901 N. Front St. 19122). Childcare is provided. RSVP here.

Like you, we love our students. We bend over backwards to make sure they get what they need. The same is true for our coworkers. We have seen our fellow educators raise thousands of dollars for clubs, trips and projects. We have seen them stay at school until late in the evening, uncompensated, because there are no EC funds. We have seen them repeatedly take on additional duties without compensation – roster chair, dean of students, test coordinator, teacher leader, extracurricular activity director – because “somebody has to do it.”

Despite years of work in under-resourced, understaffed schools, we still have no contract that ensures schools are safe, staffed, and stable. We deserve a contract that demonstrates respect for our expertise, education and compassion. As PFT Building Representatives, we have heard tragic stories that involve fellow teachers taking 2nd & 3rd jobs, defaulting on student loans, neglecting home repairs, and paying their mortgage late.

We are fighting for our students, our schools, and our lives. On May 1st PFT members, parents and allies from across Philadelphia will be making the brave choice to stand up and speak out on behalf of our students and schools by participating in the “May Day of Advocacy for Public Schools”. At schools across the city large percentages of staffs will not go to work in order to take part in a series of protests.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

7:30-8:30 am: Pickets at schools with staff, parents & community in solidarity

Sign the Statement of Support for the "May Day of Advocacy in Philly Schools"! Everyone -- educators, parents, community organizations, education advocates, politicians, and allies -- is invited to sign on and help spread the word.

Encourage friends and organizations to join in! Members of POWER, 215PA, PASNAP, Tuesdays with Toomey and dozens of others are joining us in solidarity. Please reach out to your networks and ask them to stand with us.

Be creative! Help make the rally and march to City Hall truly special. Musicians, artists: we need you! Make a sign that will get the media’s attention.

Help make the big banner -- wide enough to cover the entire front of 440! You have to see it to believe it! Contact Jessica at jessicatway70@gmail.com for more info.

This is a grassroots organizing effort led by rank-and-file educators at local schools*. Families will be notified in advance and invited to participate in the day of action to fight for the schools our students deserve. Staff at Taylor and SLA organized a similar day of action on International Women’s Day with no disciplinary repercussions and strong parent support.

The SDP acknowledged this as our legal right: “Absences due to participation in protests should be treated like any other request for a day off. The School District of Philadelphia respects the rights of District employees for self-expression, however, nothing must deter us from our primary objective – the education of the children of Philadelphia."

*This effort is not sponsored, organized or endorsed by the leadership of the PFT or any members of the PFT Bargaining Team. The actions of rank-and-file members have no bearing whatsoever on whether the district can declare an impasse in negotiations. Only actions taken by the PFT leadership can trigger an impasse in negotiations.